Chapter 19: Barriers To Collaboration Between English As A Second Language and Content Area Teachers

The rough ground of collaboration between English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and their mainstream content area colleagues has only recently begun to achieve attention in academic research (Arkoudis, 2006). ESL teachers are often viewed as members of a helping profession without ownership of a content area or specific learning goals (Creese, 2002; Pawan & Craig, 2011; Pawan & Ortloff, 2011). The current study identified three areas presenting challenges for collaboration: (a) lack of administrative support; (b) lack of time for professional collaboration; and (c) misinformed attitudes toward (English language learner) ELLs and the second language acquisition process. Each of these areas is directly linked to the status of ESL as a profession in K-12 schools.